Svenska FN-observatören Zaida Catalán kidnappad i Kongo (hittad avliden) 2017-03-13

The Kidnappings
Human Rights Watch confirmed the kidnapping for ransom of 172 Congolese and three foreign nationals in 35 separate incidents in Rutshuru, two in Nyirangongo, one in Walikale, and four in Goma, in 2015. The actual number of cases is likely much higher. Human Rights Watch also received reports of kidnapping cases in Butembo town and Beni territory in 2015, but they are beyond the scope of this research.

Most of the kidnappings Human Rights Watch documented were in areas previously controlled by the M23, a Rwandan-backed rebellion that was responsible for widespread war crimes between early 2012 and late 2013, when Congolese military and UN forces defeated the group. A new national disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) program to disarm former combatants from the M23 and other armed groups and provide them with other economic opportunities has yet to become fully operational. Fighters who surrendered from various armed groups in the past two years have been sent to regroupment camps, where they have waited for months, often in abysmal conditions, for the program to begin. Some abandoned the camps, tired of waiting, and went back to their armed groups or turned to other criminal activity, including kidnapping.

Many kidnappings occurred on major roads in Rutshuru and Nyiragongo territories, North Kivu, including the roads from Rutshuru to Rwindi, Nyiragongo to Rutshuru, Rutshuru to Nyamilima, Rwindi to Nyanzale, and Rutshuru to Bunagana.

Human Rights Watch found that victims were not singled out on the basis of their ethnicity. The vast majority were men. If women were captured, they were often robbed and immediately released. Human Rights Watch documented five cases of women being taken as hostages. Victims ranged in age from 4 to 70. Kidnappers targeted people on roads, in farms, in homes, and at school. They were held for between eight hours and nine days.

A 19-year-old woman kidnapped in Goma on September 18 after she accepted a ride from three men:

Another girl was also in the car when I got in. When we realized that they were taking us in the wrong direction, we started to scream. The driver then climbed over and put Scotch tape over my mouth and eyes. He also taped the other girl. They bound my feet and hands with a belt. I didn’t know where I was or where we were going. A little later, I heard the car honk and two men carried me into a house. Later that day, they injected me with something, and I lost consciousness.

She was released nine days later, after her family paid $300 to the kidnappers. After seeing a doctor, she learned she had been raped while unconscious.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an estimated 400,000 women are raped every year.

The statistics are alarming. According to a study by the journal of the American Medical Association in 2010, an astounding 39.7% of women in the eastern region of the DRC have been exposed to sexual violence during their lifetime.

This violence is not limiting itself to gender nor age either. The same study found that at least 23.6% of men had gone through the same trauma though were far less likely to report the fact due to the extreme stigma and stigmatization they’d face.